ST. LOUIS — This week's Vintage KSDK takes us back to the night of Oct. 16, 2000, just weeks before the general election.
Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, running for U.S. Senate in an election that was just weeks away, was killed in a plane crash on his way to a campaign event in New Madrid, Missouri.
On board, his campaign advisor Chris Sifford, and at the controls, his son Randy.
All three died when their Cessna 335 crashed in bad weather near Hillsboro.
"About 7:33 was the last radar contact,” said a National Transportation Safety Board investigator. “They dropped off the radar at that point. The first 911 call was at 7:36 called in by we believe a citizen. About two hours later were the first people on scene to locate the wreckage."
The crash site was rugged and remote. Residents in the area recalled hearing an explosion.
"It just got so loud and then when it hit, like I said, the whole house just shook,” said Chris Soong, who lived nearby. “The bed shook, everything just shook. I mean, I wasn't even sure if it had hit the house or not. I mean, that's how, that's how loud it was."
The next day, Missouri Lt. Gov. Roger Wilson was sworn in as governor.
Three days later, a memorial service was held for Carnahan in Jefferson City.
Then-president Bill Clinton, and Vice President Al Gore, who was running for president, attended.
Mel Carnahan would go on to win the Senate race posthumously. Wilson appointed his widow Jean Carnahan to fill the seat.
The National Transportation Safety Board ruled the crash was caused by the failure of a key instrument needed to guide the plane through rain and fog.